Saturday, November 30, 2013

An aerial view of the Île de Bréhat. This island is the scene of almost a whole chapter in Twopence Coloured. But in Susan's Kind Heart the visit the young people make to the island is only briefly described, and apart from their picnic and very quick shopping for souvenirs and gifts and dinner, the whole visit is over in less than two pages. The Île de Bréhat is famous for its pink granite rocks.

A map of Brittany. Here we can see the route that Susan, Midge, Charlotte, Oliver, Willy, René and Gaston took to the Île de Bréhat in Susan's Kind Heart. They sailed there on Gaston's boat, L'Hirondelle. On the way, they stopped at Saint Quay, docking at the Portrieux harbour. Gaston sent René to buy cakes in the famous pâtisserie.

Gaston put in at Portrieux, which was the harbour for St. Quay, and very kindly sent René to buy cakes in the famous pâtisserie. He himself had a call to make, but the young people enjoyed the harbour and watched the hard-bitten old salts lounging about and the vociferous holidaymakers embarking on motor-boats for the Île de Bréhat and felt very nicely superior because they had their own boat.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Caroline was hanging on every word, but Sara was still scowling and muttering to herself, "Unlucky, that's what I am. Anybody else finds a treasure-chest, and it's full of treasure. I - we rather, for it's all Caroline's doing - find a chest and what's in it? Mouldy old books. And not even readable at that. Beautiful! All yellow and musty and the pictures like postage stampls. Gosh! They've gone mad - where are they off to with the blooming chest? If it's a bonfire, I don't want to miss it-"

Supper is nice too on the first night, sausages and mash and ice-cream, we told Lisa to make the most of it because the next day it would be back to revolting macaroni-cheese and sago pudding.

From A GIRL WITH IDEAS, the 1960s short story written for Collins under the pen name of Jean Bell. This story was only published posthumously in Susan and Friends. Some of the punctuation is a bit strange, but this may be deliberate as the story is told by a young girl in the first person.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The most common criminal activity in Jane Shaw is smuggling. In several stories, diamonds and watches are smuggled into the UK by middle age women and little old ladies who call everyone "My dear". This illustration from the 1953 short story Sara's Adventure shows Sara falling victim to a nice old lady who asks her to take some French butter to her daughter in London who misses her "petit déjeuner". Of course, butter is laced with diamonds.

Chang went with the girls when Susan trotted Tessa down Tollgate Road very early next morning. The Carmichaels were tall and fair and extremely good-looking, with the possible exception of Midge who at present just looked like a midge, according to Susan, all big eyes and little pointed face. Susan, in contrast, had dark eyes and dark curls and rosy cheeks. Beside her, Tessa, who had straight flaxen hair, looked like an ethereal creature from another world. She behaved like one too, Susan sometimes thought. Old Tessa lived in a daze most of the time.

In the car going back to Rosendorf they talked and argued about what was to be told to Aunt Lucy and Uncle Charles. Nothing, said Lise. Everything, said the others. "But if we tell them everything and then Herr Doktor Carmichael finds that his conscience will not allow him to smuggle Rudi into England?" asked Lise.

The Carmichaels were quite insulted. How could Lise think of such dreadful things to say about their father who, to hear them talking, was the most reckless law-breaker in England?

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Suddenly she lifted her head, which was bent against the driving rain; there was a light shining somewhere ahead. She hesitated for a second, but after all she had to go on. If it was a car she might be very lucky and get a lift; if it was a house, well, people had a right to have their lights on at half past twelve in the middle of the night if they felt like it - it was none of her business. Shining her torch down at her feet she hurried on. And as she came round a turn in the lane she came on the cottage. The door was open and the light was streaming across the road; a woman was standing there beside the door with a lantern in her hand. As Gail came into the stream of light the woman darted across the road and caught herby the arm.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Horrible Peregrine Gascoigne teases Susan after her face is covered in green spots by the potion he had concocted using his chemistry set in the Gascoignes' infamous "Rumpus Room". Click on the image for a more detailed view.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

In Venture to South Africa, the Eliot family set sail on the Dumbarton Castle and the story gives full details of their voyage. Jane Shaw based the trip on her own journey to South Africa. When her husband took up a post as an accountant in Johanessburg, the Evans family sailed to Cape Town on the Warwick Castle. The Eliots played deck games and made friends with Candy and Peter Rivett, who would show up again later and play an interesting role in the plot. Venture to South Africa is considered the most unusual book that Jane Shaw ever wrote, and you can read a review of it by clicking here.

Adrian paid some attention at last. "Roy Maxwell! Is he here?" he asked.

"Mm. Camping," said Gabrielle. "We told him that we knew Dicky Fountain frightfully well, he was thrilled to meet us. He's very Scotch, I can hardly make out what he's saying, you can practise your Scotch on him."

"Hoots, awa' mon, and dinna haver," said Adrian.

Susan observed to no one in particular that she had never in her life heard any living creature say Hoots, but the Gascoignes didn't seem to care.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

People queue to have their fortunes told, but Mirren has been called away on a family emergency. So, who will take her place? Susan, of course! This was the last Susan short story and it is as packed as all the others. Besides the fortune telling, there is a robbery at the local post office and thearrival of the famed author Mr. Rock Carlisle. And there are quite a few surprises. Click on the picture for higher resolution.

Monday, November 4, 2013

After her disastrous stint as a nurse in Susan Pulls the Strings, Charlotte tries her hand at cooking in the ensuing short story, The Wilsons Won't Mind. The results are less than successful and her career as a baker is short-lived. Charlotte's crazes, a characteristic she shares to a certain degree with Aunt Lucy, are a running gag in the series. She goes from nursing to cooking to collecting china and then to archaeology before she finally settles on art as her chosen career.

In Chapter 7 of Bernese Adventure, John points out the Mouse Tower to Sara as they drive from Koblenz to Bingen. He explains that the evil Bishop Hatto was eaten alive by mice there as punishment for burning poor people alive. During the burning, the bishop shouted "Hear the mice scream", according to local legend. He was attacked by mice and fled across the river to the tower (located on a small island). But the mice pursued him across and attacked him.

Thomas and I had cameras, really decent jobs, thirty-five millimetre, with light filters, telescopic lenses and so on, which I am sure you will agree was much more exciting than pendants, although perhaps not for girls. The first photo I took - by special permission - was of the Red Roses of Rinigen, but unfortunately it didn't come out.

Even Caroline enthused at the scenery from Koblenz to Bingen, and though Sara missed the Lorelei rock, through having a little nap, John took care to point out the Mouse Tower where, he said, the wicked Bishop Hatto was devoured by mice for his sins; for Sara's horror of mice was always giving rise to little touches like that from the more hard-hearted members of her family.

They tackled Peregrine from behind and took him quite by surprise, laid him low and sat on him. It was very uncomfortable because he wriggled so much, and he complained bitterly that it wasn't very sporting of two great big lumps to attack one very small boy who wasn't very strong, had they forgotten how ill he had been in the night?

"Oh, do shut up, Pea-green, and keep still. I want to watch this dog because she belongs to Wullie-from-up-the-glen and you keep bumping me about so."

About Wichwood Village

Welcome to Wichwood Village, a blog about the life and works of Scottish author Jane Shaw. Between 1939 and 1969, she published over 40 books and numerous short stories for children. Her light sense of humour, captivating characters and their madcap banter are hallmarks of her work. This blog is dedicated to exploring the protagonists, artwork and locations of her work and her life in general, with reviews and comments.

How I became a Jane Shaw enthusiast is explained in the first post of this blog, which you can read here.